Boston University gave John Kuester his first head-coaching job, and he went went 16-13 in his first year. It took John Kuester just three years to go from graduate assistant at the University of Richmond, to Rick Pitino’s staff at Boston University, to leadership of the BU program. At 28, Kuester was Division I’s youngest head coach in 1983.

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Detroit Pistons coach John Kuester said he encountered “very special” people while attending Benedictine. Somewhere, John Kuester believes, Warren Rutledge is smiling. Kuester, named the Detroit Pistons’ coach yesterday, played for Rutledge at Benedictine High School during the early 1970s. Kuester said his journey to an NBA head-coaching job was greatly aided by several lessons he learned from Rutledge, who coached the Cadets for 43 seasons and died in 2000.

John Kuester, who could be introduced as the Detroit Pistons’ new head coach as early as today, earned acclaim first as a guard at Benedictine, then at North Carolina, where he helped lead the Tar Heels to two ACC titles.

DETROIT—Joe Dumars has turned to Cleveland Cavaliers assistant John Kuester, a Richmond native and former Benedictine High School standout, as the Pistons’ next head coach. The Detroit Free Press learned late yesterday afternoon that the Pistons were nearing a deal with Kuester, a 54-year-old coaching veteran who has never led an NBA team but was the head man at two mid-major colleges in the 1980s. He won a championship ring as a Pistons assistant in 2004 and has built a reputation in the NBA as a bright offensive mind and game-planner.